Jack Hargrave

[oscarvan]

My opinions of course, and taste is personal....

Never tire of looking at his amazing work, the fascinating relationship with Slane, and admiring his dedication and work ethics.

I call him the "Frank Lloyd Wright" of yacht design, and he is one of the factors that keep me coming back to the Hatts. Form follows function and in the 70's and 80's function pushed hard. Whereas many designs before were works of art with limited regard for interior space, those decades saw the departure from that. I think the 53MY is the absolute best looking of its era. Are there better layouts, sure. No disrespect to Mr Lazzara, for example, but even though his Viking 55MY is a perfect layout for our needs I just can't imagine floating down the river in that "thing". Let's not even talk about what came later. With few exceptions on the higher end I find modern production yacht design about as exciting as most automotive design. Very, very few true works of art.

Learned two interesting facts though while reading "The Yachts and Ships of Jack Hargrave".

Jack designed the Jungle Queen.
Jack was a sailor first and foremost!

[jim rosenthal]

Every year, JH, who was an excellent artist (another thing in common with FLW) designed and printed a Christmas card that his studio sent out to friends. I think some of them are featured in the book about him. Beautiful work.

[oscarvan]

Every year, JH, who was an excellent artist (another thing in common with FLW) designed and printed a Christmas card that his studio sent out to friends. I think some of them are featured in the book about him. Beautiful work.

Yes they are in the book. Beautiful.

[Passages]

Ummmm....I'm about to take some heat for this but... what the hey???

First let me say that I shopped for many years for a Hatteras. The joke on the forum was that Krush and I competed for the title of longest boat shopper. Even Freeeebird, was wondering if I'd ever buy a boat.

Ok, I really REALLY wanted a Hatteras. I have the utmost respect for Jack Hargrave and the build quality from our friends in New Bern NC.

For sportfish convertables, Nothing beats the 36-45 Hatts.

Then I began looking at 58-65 Motoryachts and this is where Jack missed the boat and Lazarra excelled. You will find this range of Hatts with miss steps such as a split engine room and a ladder from the lower helm as the only access to the flybridge. Compare that to the spacious engine room on my boat and a proper staircase from the salon to the flybridge.

As far as referring to the Lazarra design as a "thing" well, see for yourself. I don't think my boat is ugly at all but beauty is in the eye they say.

I am wearing my asbestos suit so let the flaming begin.

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

What calamity befell you requiring the need to stencil “FWD” on the bulkhead?

[rsmith]

It’s all good if you only go out on calm days or for the annual trip to the fuel dock. But it does look like a Winnebago mounted to a deck boat hull. No offense I’m sure it’s a great live aboard.

[Freestyle]

Give credit where due.

The bulkhead is properly labeled FWD.

This helps when you re-power.

Bruce

Freestyle
Tampa

[krush]

........ The joke on the forum was that Krush and I competed for the title of longest boat shopper. ....................

Then I began looking at 58-65 Motoryachts and this is where Jack missed the boat and Lazarra excelled. You will find this range of Hatts with miss steps such as a split engine room and a ladder from the lower helm as the only access to the flybridge. Compare that to the spacious engine room on my boat and a proper staircase from the salon to the flybridge.

As far as referring to the Lazarra design as a "thing" well, see for yourself. I don't think my boat is ugly at all but beauty is in the eye they say.

I am wearing my asbestos suit so let the flaming begin.

These are many of the misses that the Hatteras design had. I think it was more of just being outdated, though. I never understood the flush deck as opposed to a raised pilot house design (which eventually took over). In the 2000's Hatt started making a raised pilot house design. A usable cockpit is required for people that actually recreate on their boat.

As for the contest, who actually is the winner?

[Passages]

Winnebago on a hull? Hey, I guess I never knew how much I liked the lines of Winnebago. LOL

[Boatsb]

Too bad the engine room isn't air conditioned too. That would make working on it so nice.

Many of them have it by the way.

I've worked on a few and overall a pretty well built boat. Certainly better to work on than the split ER and zoom much bigger inside than the hatts. The 55 I did chargers and other upgrades to was a pleasure to work on. Stairs everywhere that were easy to go up and down. Easy access under the fly bridge and when we put in the autopilot we were able to get everywhere we needed to run cable.

If you want to compare seaworthy characteristics of motoryachts it's like having a physics lecture in kindergarten. You may think your doing something good but it's a waste of time. They all take the seas like crap compared to a good sporty.